Equipment

Laser Cutters

Laser Laptop

Has the SoftDog USB dongle plugged in, which is required to start LaserCut and send files to the laser cutter

Materials Storage

Grey Drawers: Store small scraps intended for open use in the appropriately labeled drawer.

Rack under the desk: Store medium sized pieces here. Pieces should be labeled with member name, email, and date of storage. Unlabeled pieces are assumed to be for open use, and may be culled from time to time.

Storage for larger sheet goods is in the Wood Shop A-frame and sheet goods racks.

Choosing Materials

The laser cutter can cut or etch a wide variety of materials. However some are not possible to cut with our current set-up, and other materials are dangerous - they release fumes that damage humans or the laser cutter itself. There are some materials that cannot be cut, only etched.

You are responsible for knowing exactly what your material is before you try to cut it. DO NOT cut any of the banned materials. You are liable for expensive damage to the machine or worse - you may release toxic fumes that could easily harm or kill!.

DO NOT CUT

Metals

Materials that contain a high proportion of glue (such as particle board)

Plastics (or any other materials) that contain chlorine (such as all varieties of vinyl like PVC).media:LaserProcessingGuide_Plastics.pdf A trace amount of chlorine, such as found in the glue in thin plywood or the resin of medium density fiberboard, is acceptable. Particle board has too much glue. You are responsible to know whether there is chlorine in your material before you try to cut it.

If you cut plexiglass, please be sure that it is acrylic and not polycarbonate. Look along the cut edge of the material, from the side. Polycarbonate is dark on this area; acrylic is light. Polycarbonate is one of the most dangerous materials you could try to laser. It instantly starts producing yellow, acrid, toxic fumes which will corrode your lungs, and the mechanisms and lens of the laser. When the lens clouds up with these fumes, it may reflect the laser back into the machine, which may melt the head and set the machine on fire. You may not be able to reach the fire extinguisher due to what is in your lungs. Both these outcomes will upset the community.

ABS Plastics have recently added to the list of banned materials, because while they do not contain chlorine, when laser'd it gives off the gas Hydrogen Cyanide. While not necessarily damaging to the equipment, this gas is used in pesticides and is classified as a chemical weapon. (Not good.)

PTFE (Teflon) will release Fluorine gas, which when inhaled by humans causes flu-like symptoms, and when mixed with hydrogen (in the atmosphere) will create hydrofluoric acid. This is corrosive and will fog up the optics of the laser.

Materials which can be cut, can normally be cut up to about 3/16 of an inch. Some materials can be cut thicker with multiple passes. The thickest cut so far was of 1" thick acrylic. However, that required that it be cut from the opposite side, while flipped over and perfectly registered.

Materials List

Material

Cut?

Etch?

Mark?

Power

Speed

Acrylic (Plexiglass)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Basswood 3/16"

Yes

Yes

Yes

cut 30, corner 20

120

Ceramic

No

Yes

Yes

Cloth

Yes

Yes

No

Delrin

Yes

Yes

Yes

Glass

No

Yes

Yes

Coated Metals

No

Yes

Yes

Leather

Yes

Yes

Yes

Human flesh (yes, this has come up)

BANNED

BANNED

BANNED

Marble

No

Yes

Yes

Matte Board

Yes

Yes

Yes

MDF

Yes

Yes

Yes

Speed 10, Power 100, Corner Power 50 to cut 1/4" material

Melamine

Yes

Yes

Yes

Model Foam (expanded polystyrene)

Yes

Yes

No

Mylar

Yes

Yes

No

Metals - Painted

No

Yes

Yes

Metals - Stainless Steel

No

No

Yes

Particle board

BANNED

BANNED

BANNED

Paper

Yes

Yes

No

Speed 400, Power 30, Corner Power 16 to cut bristol board with high resolution (small kerf)

Speed 200, Power 30, Corner Power 16 to cut bristol board with low resolution-across long edges

Using the laser cutters

Getting your design ready

You will need access to vector graphics software to design your parts. So far, DXF files seem to work the least-bad of the various vector filetypes, so use them. LaserCut is good for putting finished art into the laser, but barely adequate for designing art.

Lower speeds allow for lower cutting power, which saves life on the laser tube.

Lower speeds also cut a wider "kerf" (thickness of cut) through the material.

At higher speeds the cut is faster but requires higher power, which uses up the laser tube faster.

Corner power should be set below to the regular power to reduce the power going around a corner. This makes up for the fact that the laser decelerates around the corner for better control. (Lower speed at the same power would result in a higher effective power in the corners otherwise, making the corners look bad).

High power on wood and paper may cause some discoloration near the cuts (browning color from burned material).

http://www.keppel.demon.co.uk/111000/111000.html makes nice box patterns right in inkscape, has the ability to specify inside or outside dimensions (so after adding about 0.4 - 0.5 mm all around, you can easily make a snug-fitting box in a box).

FAQ

A list of commonly asked questions

If I have a jpeg file, how do I etch it on a piece of acryllic?

The easiest way is to import the jpeg file into the LaserCut software, then put it on an engrave layer.

If I set speed on LaserCut, what does the SPEED % mean on the display of the Laser Cutter?

The speed on the Laser cutter screen is irrelevant. When uploading files manually (Without the LaserCut software) this is where you change your speed/power. However, LaserCut handles all of this for you, and the cutter will follow your settings from the program, regardless of what they are set for on the cutter itself.

I have a jpeg of a line drawing. How can I cut a piece of acryllic using that line drawing?

It is recommended that you upload the image into a vector art program (ie: Illustrator, Inkscape) and trace the into tool paths. If you try to cut the jpeg directly, the cutter will also try to cut the artifacts in the image and not only extend your cut time, but also create the potential of ruining your image.

Do I need training to use the Laser Cutter? If so, how do I get it?

Yes, use of the laser cutters must requires you to be a member and either training, or the supervision of a trained operator. If you would like to be trained, or need assistance, you may either contact the zone wardens, or one of the trained operators listed (both on the wiki and in the zone) and a time can be set up.

Why do we have 2 Laser Cutters?

When the lasers were originally purchased, we received a huge discount by ordering multiple. (Three were actually ordered. The third is located with our friends, Sector67.) After the funds were raised for the actual purchase (via a kick-starter), one of our members contributed the funds necessary to purchase all three units. As a result, Bumblebee is owned by the space, Wolverine is owned by Roger S., and the third was purchased/is owned by Sector67 in Madison, Wisconsin.

LaserCut is demanding that the dongle be re-installed, even though the dongle is plugged into the normal laser cutter laptop! How can I fix it?

Make sure the USB hub with the dongle is plugged into the side port, not the back port, of the laptop. Windows XP is apparently picky about which USB port drivers are installed to.

How can I tell how much my job is going to cost?

The best way to estimate cost is to run the job on the machine with the power set to 0. Unless you're doing something really complicated, the laser time probably won't cost you more than a few bucks. Some people try to use the LaserCut software to estimate cost based on path length, but there are many complications with this method. The laser will decelerate around corners and curves, so the head speed is not constant. Since we charge based on total run time as measured on the machine's UI, which includes the non-cut transits, path length means effectively nothing.